MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A Moscow court ruled Monday that $600 million in Russian bank accounts held by a one-time political opponent of the Kremlin may be seized by prosecutors.
The Federal Bailiff Service said assets of former OAO Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and business partner Platon Lebedev should be seized to clear back taxes owed by the Yukos oil company.
Besides the bank assets, the FBS said that securities and real estate of the two men, now serving time in a Siberian penal colony for tax evasion convictions, also may be seized, the Novosti news agency said Monday.
Yukos still owes around $6.3 billion in back taxes, penalties and fines as a result of a series of claims for 1999-2003. The bill originally amounted to some $27.5 billion.
